Post 2: Slavery, Society, and Racial Hierarchies

Slavery continues to be a huge part of American history, for it was initiated within the ideal America from the very beginning.   As the British settled upon these unspoken lands,  they immediately saw differences between themselves and natives, that includes but is not limited to cultural practices, means of living, and looks.   But we cannot ignore their persistence to live a certain way, and to fulfill a certain dream.   These differences were taken to heart, and were considered to resemble that less of a man.  

From that point on,  these culturally different natives were  looked down upon, transported, and denied basic freedoms of both property and prosperity.  We can see additional people looked at with the same manner, and that would be those who are black.  These individuals were then enslaved to a white owner, commonly to help yield crops or to do intensive labor for a white man.  

Later, the practices of slavery were noticed to be profitable, and appropriate for the work of agriculture.  Whites of different ethnicities and origins were then put to work, often denied many of the same basic freedoms as blacks.  A white slave was initially valued more than a black slave, but then some rights were given to these individuals because of their skin color, and they could eventually become a free people.  Whites had the right to bear arms to protect their great colony, giving many owners an uneasy feeling about their reliance on whites. Following this, was the desire for workers that were not limited by law.  Africans were then imported to fill the desires of many prosperous slave owners, and were given none of the basic rights of an American.  

All individuals were encouraged to turn against  a slave escaping for freedom.  Law required all people to report slaves on the run or in the hide out, and punishments for acting in any other way were harsh. 

To control these groups of enslaved individuals, laws and acts were passed that enforced an anti-education concept.   The only way power could be obtained by these people would have been basic rights, and basic knowledge, such as the skills to read and write.  Our readings repeat that an education is the one of the only means to an end of slavery, for power and force by numbers could be initiated most easily if common skills were owned. 

There was later a point in history where time stood still.  Slowly, some slave owners begin to feel guilt for the fact that they were enslaving people.  Readings show the once authoritarians coming to treat their slaves in a different way.  After all, happy slaves do better work.  Plus, the owner may not have to sleep so lightly in the night.. 

Social controls were a huge part of slavery and are why it was around for so many years.  When people work against each other, hold stereotypes, or are uneducated on truth, problems not only arise, but continue without resolution.  This continues today in both cultural and non cultural  means.    First, consider relationships.  We are moving to a day in age where homosexuality is becoming more acceptable.  But many people hold stereotypes against these types of people, while many state laws restrict them financially, through taxation, marriage, and basic rights of a married couple.      Consider our very own college majors.  How are students looked at if they choose one degree over another.  Compare the idea of being a business major to that of being an early childhood education major, or perhaps a music major.  We all hold ideas in our minds of what these types of people are like who choose these things.

Certainly, these examples are far from those in which demonstrate social controls and constraints in the slavery period.  But notice the way people perceive each other in fallacious ways, and consider how we judge others today in the same way that people judged others long ago. 

 

Entry 1: The "Savage" Nature of Native American Cultures and Societies

While the British were settling and colonizing the Americas, they had an overall ideal, or view of the way they thought life should be.  It included people that looked like them, that desired order, such as an organized colony of farming, and those that are educated, and "work" for a living.  Their idea of work is commonly believed to be a type that could truly support a family ( in their opinion) such as farming, manufacturing, and selling and trading.   As the British began settling the lands of the Americas, they saw a type of life that was unlike the type that they desired.  

To the British, the Indians demonstrated a life of "savagery."  Referred to as "exhibits," these Indian individuals supposedly lived a barbarous life of killing and cannibalism.  This initial impression was false, showing that the invaders  had not considered a life other than the one they had wanted, and nor was any other type of life acceptable.   

"...not being content only to kill and take away life, but to torment men  in the most bloody manner, killing some alive with the shells of fishes, cutting off the members and..."

The above statement was part of the viewpoint obtained of the initial settlers amongst the Indian lands.  It also explains the lack of knowledge that the British truly had about the Indians, for these harsh thoughts were created, to support their initial intent of overtaking their lands.   Such embellishing thoughts were, in my opinion, only created to rationalize their upcoming deeds. 

The stereotyping continues, as the British overcome much of the land, and in time hope to have "peace" with this dementing group of people.  Their typical idea of peace, though, was not far from their original intent.  Even Jefferson works towards the colonization of the Indian people,  making it dire that they live the new way of the land.  But the end of todays reading shows a further intent, and that is to simply misplace the Indian people, and to rid them from the life of the newly settled. 

All in all, the Indians were looked at as an inferior type of creature.  They were different people, lived differently, and supported each other with different means.  This "savage" way of life, hunting, "starving," and reliance of nature was undesired and un-accepted, and the Indian desires to not conform was a reason to classify this type of people as something "else."

This initial viewpoint of black, differently cultured individuals from the past time is certainly different today, as the US is a widely diversified and cultural place.  But what we do see in popular culture is a still a difference from those of a different decent.   Most commonly, we as people classify people as black or white, as if a person is one or the other, or as if there are people of no other culture or background.  What could the reason we do this, be?   Is it simply because of a color contrast amongst people, or is there an underlying reason that was brought up through generations that was commonly held in the times of invasion and settlement?  Obviously, we as people hopefully do not stereotype others in this way, but has the initial concept risen through generations?   

While the past discrepancies were supposedly based on differences of living culture, todays are more-so based on color.  We often choose to see people as white or black, one or the another, and fail to advise that culture is not like that.  Most of us are loaded with differing cultures, originations, and pasts, and we fail to recognize these differences because minor outer differences,  color.  This happened just the same, in the past.  Rather than people being people, minor differences changed the way they were perceived.